Contributors

Howard Anglin is a doctoral student at Oxford University. He was previously Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Principal Secretary to the Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, and a lawyer in New York, London, and Washington, DC.

Joanna Baron is Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a legal charity that protects constitutional freedoms in courts of law and public opinion. Previously, she was the founding National Director of the Runnymede Society and a criminal defence litigator in Toronto. She studied Classics at St John’s College in MD and NM and law at McGill University.

David Frum is a leading author, journalist, public intellectual, and staff writer at the Atlantic. He previously worked as a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush and chaired for the think tank Policy Exchange.

Derrick Hunter is the CEO of Bluesky Equities Ltd. a private diversified investment management company.  He was named Canadian Angel Investor of the Year for 2019.  He is also a trustee of the Hunter Family Foundation, which underwrites The Hunter Prize for Public Policy at The Hub.

Malcolm Jolley is a roving wine and food journalist, beagler, and professional house guest. Based mostly in Toronto, he publishes a sort of wine club newsletter at mjwinebox.com.

Michael Kempa is a criminologist with the spirit of an investigative journalist. He focuses on exposing the politics behind policing, security and criminal justice operations, policies and reforms. Based out of the University of Ottawa, he has contributed to The Hub, The National Post, CBC, Walrus Magazine, and others. He once sought a federal Liberal nomination in his native Scarborough, Ontario, but was saved from (Liberal) party politics by the arrival of a higher-profile leader-endorsed candidate.

Kirk LaPointe is The Hub‘s B.C. Correspondent. He is a transplanted Ontarian to British Columbia. Before he left, he ran CTV News, Southam News and the Hamilton Spectator. He also helped launch the National Post as its first executive editor, was a day-one host on CBC Newsworld, and ran the Ottawa bureau of The Canadian Press. His B.C. experiences include being managing editor of the Vancouver Sun, the English-language ombudsman of the CBC, and most recently the publisher and editor-in-chief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president editorial of its parent company, Glacier Media. He ran and finished second for the Vancouver mayoralty in 2014. He has taught for two decades at the UBC School of Journalism and now writes columns for Glacier Media.

Eric Lombardi stands at the forefront of urban development and advocacy as the founder and president of More Neighbours Toronto, a volunteer organization committed to ending the housing crisis. Professionally, he specializes in strategy management consulting in the finance and technology sectors.

Patrick Luciani is a writer and book reviewer for The Hub and former executive director of the Donner Canadian Foundation.

Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, a Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald, and a former vice chair of the CRTC

Jack Mitchell (www.jackmitchell.ca) is a poet and scholar based in Halifax, where he is an associate professor of Classics at Dalhousie. His latest book, “The Odyssey of Star Wars: an Epic Poem”, a retelling of the original Star Wars film trilogy, was published in September 2021 by Abrams Books.

Alicia Planincic is the Director of Policy & Economics at the Business Council of Alberta. She regularly provides insight and analysis on the Canadian economy, public finances, labour markets, equity and social mobility, and public policy.

Karen Restoule is a vice president at Crestview Strategy and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute focused on Indigenous economic and governance policy. She previously served First Nations leadership at Chiefs of Ontario. Karen is Ojibwe from Dokis First Nation.

Ginny Roth is a Partner at Crestview Strategy and a long-time conservative activist who most recently served as the Director of Communications on Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative leadership campaign.

Richard Shimooka is a Hub contributing writer and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute who writes on defence policy.

Dave Snow is an Associate professor in political science at the University of Guelph and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Trevor Tombe is a professor of economics at the University of Calgary and a research fellow at The School of Public Policy.

Antony Anderson is the author of “The Diplomat: Lester Pearson and the Suez Crisis” and is a senior fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. He writes documentaries for various national and international broadcasters. You can find him on X @CanadaHistory1.

Paul W. Bennett, Ed.D., is the Director of the Schoolhouse Institute, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and the Chair of researchED Canada. He is the author of The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools (2020) and the research report “Pandemic Education Fallout: Learning Loss, Collateral Damage and Recovery in Canada’s Schools” (Cardus Canada, November 2023).

Brian Bird is a lecturer at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia.

Janet Bufton is a founder of the Institute for Liberal Studies. She holds degrees in business, economics, and international affairs, which she has somehow managed to turn towards work as an Ottawa-based educational consultant and copy editor.

Livio Di Matteo is a contributor to The Hub, Professor of Economics at Lakehead University, and a Member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information National Health Expenditure Advisory Group.

Caroline Elliott is a political commentator based in Vancouver. She has a PhD specializing in Canadian liberal democracy from Simon Fraser University. Follow her @NVanCaroline.

Kelden Formosa is an elementary school teacher in Calgary. He has an M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame.

Kristopher Kinsinger is a Guelph-based lawyer and adjunct lecturer at Redeemer University in Hamilton. He is a past national director of the Runnymede Society, where he now services as a vice-president.

Amanda Lang is an award-winning business journalist, the current host of Taking Stock on Bell Media, a best-selling author, and a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Mike Moffatt is the founding director of the PLACE Centre and co-host of the podcast The Missing Middle.

Aaron Pete is a graduate of the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. He is also a council member with Chawathil First Nation, the manager of strategic relationships with Metis Nation British Columbia, and the host of the Bigger Than Me Podcast.

Mike Ramsay is a school trustee and past chair of the Waterloo Region District School Board. He is also a former soldier and police officer. His opinions are his own.

J.D.M. Stewart taught history for 30 years and is the author of Being Prime Minister. He now leads JDM Policy and Communications.

Zahra Sultani is a native of Afghanistan, born and raised in Iran. She has more than 10 years of experience in both the public and private sectors working on local, national, and international policies. She also writes about geopolitics and social issues in the Middle East and Central Asia. She studied economics at York University and philosophy and political science at Wilfrid Laurier University.